At the 2011 X Games in Los Angeles, Calif., Shaun White earned his second gold medal in vertical skateboarding. During the competition, he was able to perform tricks to top his competitors. His skills as well as his equipment provided success. Not only was the type of board he used vital, but his footwear was important as well. Skate shoes designed and manufactured especially for his use made his achievements possible. The design of his skate shoe included many features for use in skateboarding.
Skate shoe companies have integrated a number of special features into their shoes. These innovations have a number of functions including preventing heel bruises and increasing a “skateboard feel” through increased flexibility and enhancing grip. Many features of a skate shoe are designed to increase their durability. Skate shoes are subjected to the abrasiveness of a skateboard's grip tape on a regular basis when worn by skaters. Super suede, action leather, and plastic underlying the toe cap can help increase the durability of a skate shoe. Other common features include triple stitching with thicker treads to prevent ripping, more width so that there is more contact with the board with thicker tongues and sides to compensate and deep sole patterns for grip.
In addition, lace loops and protectors are designed to prevent laces from shredding by shielding the most common areas that contact with grip tape. Nevertheless, current guards are either too expensive or do not provide the durability within today's competitions. Furthermore, these devices do not address where the shoelace is most likely to break, that is, where the shoelace bends after coming out of an eyelet. A need therefore exists for a shoelace protector that overcomes these, as well as other related, challenges.